The film looks at the relationship between Polley's parents, Michael and Diane Polley, including the revelation that the filmmaker was the product of an extramarital affair between her mother and Montreal producer Harry Gulkin.[10] It incorporates interviews with Polley's siblings from her mother's two marriages, interviews with other relatives and family friends, Michael Polley's narration of his memoir, and Super-8 footage shot to look like home movies of historical events in her family's life. The faux home video footage appears exceptionally authentic due to the "canny casting" of the characters.[11] The cast in the Super-8 re-creations includes Rebecca Jenkins as Diane, who had died of cancer on January 10, 1990, the week of Polley's 11th birthday.[5][11] Polley began work five years before completing the documentary, taking many breaks in between.
In her blog post on the NFB.ca website, Polley reveals that several journalists, including Brian D. Johnson and Matthew Hays, had known about the story of her biological father for years, but respected Polley's wish to keep the matter private until she was ready to tell her story in her own words.[12]
Critical response
In his August 29 Maclean's blog post, Johnson, one of the film critics who had kept Polley's secret, wrote:
Now that I've seen her documentary, which premieres in Venice next Wednesday, I'm glad I didn't spill the beans. It's a brilliant film: an enthralling, exquisitely layered masterpiece of memoir that unravels an extraordinary world of family secrets through a maze of interviews, home movies, and faux home movies cast with actors.[13]
Writing for RogerEbert.com, film critic Sheila O'Malley gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "[a] powerful and thoughtful film...[that] is also not what it at first seems, which is part of the point Polley appears to be interested in making."[14]
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 94% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus states "In Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley plays with the documentary format to explore the nature of memory and storytelling, crafting a thoughtful, compelling narrative that unfolds like a mystery."[15]
